Gravity's Rainbow (Thomas Pynchon)

by thomas pynchon • 1973

Enigmatic American author Thomas Pynchon's classic novel, Gravity's Rainbow. Set primarily in Europe at the end of World War II, the novel centers on the design, production and dispatch of V-2 rockets by the German military. In particular, it features the quest undertaken by several characters to uncover the secret of a mysterious device, the Schwarzgerät ("black device"), which is slated to be installed in a rocket with the serial number "00000". Traversing a wide range of knowledge, Gravity's Rainbow crosses boundaries between high and low culture, between literary propriety and profanity, and between science and speculative metaphysics.